Warning as mercury set to dip

JERRY and Carol Allen, from Leeds, enjoy a stroll on the Pennine Way yesterday as snow coated the moors near the Tan Hill Pub.

The region can expect further snowfall this weekend after the Met Office issued its first country-wide Level Three Cold Weather Alert of the winter – the second most serious grading.

The Government and charities are warning of health problems for the elderly and the vulnerable as temperatures today plummet to as low as -10C across the UK, with maximum temperatures expected of 2C, bringing widespread ice, and remaining freezing into next week.

In eastern Europe yesterday, 83 people died as temperatures plummeted to -32C as a result of bitterly cold winds blowing across the continent from Siberia.